State Police gets funding boost for cadet classes in new spending plan

More than 600 cadets have joined the department since Shapiro took office, according to a release from the state police. The governor made a campaign promise to add 2,000 troopers during his first term. 

This year’s allocation covers training for four cadet classes, totaling 380 troopers. The agency will also receive a $4.5 million increase for its information technology and statewide radio systems, which help the police communicate and respond to emergencies of all kinds across the commonwealth.

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Funding remained flat for the agency training programs for municipal police departments, vehicle inspection, fingerprint identification, and firearm background check programs. 

“Protecting the communities within our Commonwealth is at the foundation of everything we do,” Lieutenant Colonel George L. Bivens, acting state police commissioner, said in a statement. “Funding from this budget continues to deliver real results, ensuring our members have the resources available to meet the challenges of policing in today’s society.”

About 67% of the state’s 2,554 municipalities rely on full- or part-time state police coverage, a number that has remained fairly static in recent years. 

However, the number of communities that troopers provide full-time coverage for has slightly increased over the past five years, according to a state police spokesperson.

The state’s complex hiring process for boroughs and first class townships, as well as financial pressures that make municipal police forces harder to support have been driving that trend, according to Logan Stover, the policy and legislative director for the Pennsylvania State Association of Boroughs. 

“Oftentimes, newly graduated officers are more likely to work in a 2nd Class Township because they do not have to go through the long hiring process that is required in boroughs,” he wrote in an email. “This leads to a distinct disadvantage for boroughs attempting to hire full-time officers.” 

Advocates have pushed for reforms to the state’s Civil Service process, which requires multiple rounds of testing during a hiring process that can take up to nine months, Stover said.  

And as the costs of infrastructure projects and fire and emergency services increase, “the financial pressure of providing a full-time police department on a municipality’s budget could be another factor leading to increased reliance on PSP coverage,” he added. 

In 2023, the Shapiro administration eliminated the college credit requirement for applicants seeking to join the state police. Since then, applications have increased by 69%. 

Violent crime and homicides have decreased by 16% and 39%, respectively, during the same timeframe, according to a state police release.